I do like to look at this forum from time to time but never posted anything.Thought it was about time I posted up my Project diary and started contributing a bit more.

I'm Sam, 20yrs old and live in Bridgend, South Wales.I have a heap of IT Qualifications and currently a 3rd year electrical apprentice.

Firstly though I think I should put up what I've owned in the past!

Between October 2009 and November 2010 (Passed my test May '10) I owned this...1998 Peugeot 406 1.9TD.I fitted a rev counter and a boost gauge, I gutted the CAT, disabled the EGR, gave it a stage 1 tune (14psi standard upto 22psi) and I ran it on used cooking oil filtered through nothing but J cloths!It was a bit of a dog really but always got me where I needed to go! Unfortunatly as reliable as it was the dreaded tin worm got to the sills due to blocked sunroof drains and I had to scrap it

Between November 2010 and January 2012 I aquired my Mothers MK1 Focus.

My Mother is a district nurse so the car had a bit of a hammering by the time I owned it.

2003 Ford Focus 1.6 LX.

When I had it it had servere steering shake, wandering etc etc. After replacing the steering rack, lower arms, track rods & end, having full wheel alignment done and replacing the wheel bearings it was finally sorted.It done about 7,000miles fine before within the space of 3 weeks the gearbox went, the car would refuse to lock and the engine developed a knock.So that one went

Then my Uncle told me he was getting rid of his 406 to buy a Citreon C5. I managed to convince him to sell me the 406 for the price he was offered P'ex.

2003 Peugeot 406 HDi90 Rapier.

Mechanically this was absolutley perfect! My Uncle always makes sure that his cars are mechanically looked after but cosmetically it was a bit of a mess. My Uncle had used the car to build a few houses so the boot was a bit of a state and the drivers seat was ripped. The car also had a fair share of battle scars and bad paint jobs.

I replaced the entire interior and got the engine remapped. She was an absolute pleasure to drive and with 128bhp/360nms with a very short gearbox she was suprisingly quick! Even better is on a run I was getting 60mpg+ with absolute ease!

Unfortunatly the outside was still a mess and I was stuck with the option of having a go at respraying it myself (Was going to spray it single stage Vauxhall flame red so no laquer!) or pay £1500 to have it repsrayed professionally. After 3 months of getting annoyed at the bodywork I decided just to replace the car.

And my Mondeo...

2008 Mondeo Titanium 1.8 TDCi.

I bought it in May 2012. It was 3 years old, had 97k on the clock, FDSH with 12 months MOT for £5,900!

First job was to replace the Cambelt and the fuel pump timing belt. Those who don't know, all Lynx engines after 10/07 have TWO timing belts instead of the Chain and Belt combination.

As a result I ended up with a £640 bill to replace both

I then blanked off my EGR valve!

This made a massive difference in economy, performance and generall driveability. Only issue is the car takes MUCH longer to warm up as it uses the water jacket built into the EGR to warm up the coolant on cold days. I am considering getting a diesel preheater to warm the engine up.

New brakes

Then it was time to fit some parking sensors.

Ford kindly marked the positions for the sensors on the inside of the bumper. So just drilled a pilot hole from the inside out and then drilled a 21mm hole from the outside. I kind of wish I done a 20mm hole as they are not as tight as I would like.

Then found my reverse light feed and tapped into it. I stripped a little insulation back and soldered the feed to the parking sensors onto it before taping it up.

Cracked on with the wiring and then got the sensors in.

Then give the car a good clean!

I then debadged the car as the standard badges were started to corrode badly.

Next was the exhaust.

The exhaust had failed after just 5 years. I thought this was truley unacceptable and even though it seems to be a common issue Ford refused to even offer to pay for the repair or even some of it!

I had a stainless steel cat back system fitted with one box and the standard CAT gutted so it's still visible.

The exhaust is generally unoticeable until you put your foot down where you get a very deep growl which gets very rapsy in the higher rev ranges and a nice "Coooo" when you lift off.

I then decided that it was a bit of a tractor and needed lowering!

Que a set of Eibach Prokit Springs!

I wish I'd gone for the H&R kit as I think it could do with going down another 10mm!

Thats about it really for modifications!

I was invited along to Pugfest in the summer and ended up having a quick go on the Presscott Hillclimb circuit!

Have a few ideas for the future.

Engine wise I want to upgrade the intercooler. I would like to get it fitted with an LPG fumigation system. Unfortunatley this is still a dark art but if I get a good system fitted correctly then a 5% to 10% decrease in fuel costs could see the system paid for in less than 12 months! The extra Performance would just be another plus!

Bodywork wise I need to get a few odds and ends repsrayed but umming and arring about weather or not I can afford the Titanium X Sport bodykit.

The head unit fiasco is something that I think about quite a bit. I want more features but don't want to loose the voice control and the Convers+. I am thinking of fitting a sony DAB 6CD head unit with an uprated bluetooth module to accept a USB port.

Once I'm settled on a headunit I will look at getting the system amped up and a small subwoofer fitted.

Other than that the car will just get maticulously maintained as I'm a bit OCD about servicing

It may not be because the EGR cooler is no longer warming the coolant (normally, the blanking plate does not stop the hot exhaust gasses getting to the EGR cooler) but because the engine is running more efficiently that the engine takes longer to warm up with the EGR blanking plate fitted

Often fitting a larger intercooler makes hardly any difference to the performance and if you go too big, you can increase lag - have you had the car remapped? (not mentioned in your thread - which does increase performance)

It may not be because the EGR cooler is no longer warming the coolant (normally, the blanking plate does not stop the hot exhaust gasses getting to the EGR cooler) but because the engie is running more efficiently that the engine takes longer to warm up with the EGR blanking plate fitted

Often fitting a larger intercooler makes hardly any difference to the performance and if you go too big, you can increase lag - have you had the car remmaped? (which does increase performance)

The 1.8 in the MK4 jams the EGR wide open when cold to warm up the coolant. This makes the engine nigh on undriveable! You need to pull off at 2500rpm+ or it will bog down and stall!

I was worrying for ages about the warm up times but have finally settled about it.
I decided that the cleaner oil, smoother power delivery and stopping the engine bogging down when it's cold will be better for the engine long term.

I also dropped down to a 0w30 Fully Synth oil for better flow when cold. Also carries an A5/B5 grading so should take abuse better than the Ford spec 5w30.
I currently change it every 6k/6months but as the 0w30 oil is a bit more expensive than the Ford stuff and having the EGR blanked off keeps the oil much cleaner I'm wondering if I could stretch the intervals out a little bit.

Apparently a bigger intercooler makes quite a difference on the MK4 but it's quite far down my todo list at the moment!

The 1.8 in the MK4 jams the EGR wide open when cold to warm up the coolant. This makes the engine nigh on undriveable! You need to pull off at 2500rpm+ or it will bog down and stall!

I was worrying for ages about the warm up times but have finally settled about it.
I decided that the cleaner oil, smoother power delivery and stopping the engine bogging down when it's cold will be better for the engine long term.

I also dropped down to a 0w30 Fully Synth oil for better flow when cold. Also carries an A5/B5 grading so should take abuse better than the Ford spec 5w30.
I currently change it every 6k/6months but as the 0w30 oil is a bit more expensive than the Ford stuff and having the EGR blanked off keeps the oil much cleaner I'm wondering if I could stretch the intervals out a little bit.

Apparently a bigger intercooler makes quite a difference on the MK4 but it's quite far down my todo list at the moment!

Who told you that? (an intercooler supplier, by any chance? ) the intercooler makes hardly any difference, and if you go to big, the larger internal volume can increase turbo lag, the larger mass of metal takes longer to heat up,(high thermal inertia) (which is good) but longer to cool down once it is hot (which is bad) diesel engines run more boost for longer durations so a lower thermal inertia intercooler (smaller mass of metal) often works better. On the Mondeos there is a metal bar that runs behind the bumper, it can "mask" the cooling airflow onto the intercooler (if it is taller/ higher than the bottom of the bumper bar)

Altogether you are often better with the stock intercooler, or choosing one very carefully, and having the engine mapped to match

I would certainly recomend getting the car remmaped before thinking about a larger intercooler - Did you have your car remapped?

The car pulls much harder when it's colder. I've heard it off several people on the Talk Ford forum who have fitted bigger intercooler a to the 1.8TDCi MK4 that it makes quite a difference!I know for sure that the car pulls MUCH harder when outside temps are below 10c or so. I can only assume having a bigger intercooler would be like driving on a colder day!